Rainbow DJ LabRas Tafari Inc. · Rainbow Beach Park, Chicago
Proposed:The Lab is not running yet. No class runs until every item on the launch checklist is complete.
Rainbow DJ Lab › Privacy › COPPA Compliance

COPPA Compliance

How Rainbow DJ Lab follows the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act for children under 13.

What COPPA is

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a federal law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Its rule applies to websites and online services that collect personal information from children under 13. In general, it requires:

  • a clear privacy notice
  • verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from a child under 13
  • letting parents review their child's information, have it deleted, and stop further use or collection
  • not making a child give more information than is reasonably necessary to take part in an activity
  • keeping children's information only as long as reasonably necessary, then deleting it securely
  • keeping it confidential and secure, and releasing it only to providers that can do the same

The FTC amended the COPPA Rule in 2025. According to the FTC, the amendments include requiring separate parental consent before children's information is disclosed to third parties (for example, for advertising), and making clear that information can't be kept indefinitely.

Children in the Lab, including Junior DJs (8–11) and some Little DJs (5–7) and Empress Decks members, are under 13 and enter activity into our class app. So we treat the Lab as covered by COPPA and follow it.

Status: The Lab is proposed and not running yet. These policies were adopted by the Ras Tafari Inc. board on October 17, 2026.

How we comply

1. Notice

Our data privacy statement explains what we collect, how we use it, who sees it, and your rights. You see it before you register.

  • A parent or guardian registers the child and gives consent. Children don't register themselves.
  • Interest-list entries collected before launch hold no consents and can never be approved onto a class. Every family completes full registration first.
  • A child doesn't appear in the class app until a coach approves the registration. Before approval, a coach confirms the registration with the parent or guardian directly, by phone or in person at check-in with photo ID.
  • The Lab's forms are also available on paper with a signature, for full registration after launch. See enrollment forms. If a coach adds a child from paper forms, the coach records which consents are on paper.
  • Consent is enforced by the server. No in-class app activity is saved without the family's digital-tracking consent (the child tells the coach their answer instead), and no child can be put in the Spotlight without performance consent.

3. Collecting only what's needed

From the child, the app collects only in-class learning activity: station, check-in time, prediction, challenge level, self-rating, "Next time I'll…", "Data!" count, Mix Log, Passport stamps and coach notes.

Children don't create accounts or give their full name, address, phone number, email, photo, voice recording or location in the app. Kids appear by first name and last initial. Coaches remind kids not to type personal details in free-text lines.

4. No disclosure to third parties

  • We don't sell or share children's information, and don't use it for advertising.
  • Children's information goes only to the service providers that run the app (see third-party vendors), to emergency services when a child needs help, and to authorities when the law requires.
  • If we ever wanted to share children's information with a third party for any other purpose, we would first ask for your separate consent. We have no such plans.

Who sees your child's activity. Your private family link shows only your own child; other families never see it. In the room, screens opened with the coach's expiring room code show the station board for that class: first names and last initials, stations, jobs, check-in times and in-class activity, never glow notes or private data. Children in the room can see that board during class. We explain this before you give consent. If you'd rather your child's entries weren't saved or shown, you can say no to digital-tracking consent, and your child tells the coach their answers instead.

5. Your rights as a parent

You may review your child's information, correct it, have it deleted, and withdraw consent to further collection at any time. We respond within 10 business days. See your data rights.

6. Retention and deletion

Child activity data is deleted within 90 days after the season ends, unless your family asks to keep your child's Passport. See retention and deletion.

7. Security

  • Database tables are locked to the public. A family link gets only that family's own child, and an in-room screen gets only the station-board fields while its room code is live.
  • Private family data goes only to coaches who sign in with a one-time emailed link.
  • Every adult with coach access completes screening before their first class.
  • A written information-security and data-retention program, with a full access audit log, is part of our launch work. See access records and audit log.

What we don't do

  • ads or behavioral advertising
  • tracking pixels or analytics cookies
  • photos or video in the app
  • biometrics (we collect none, so the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14, doesn't come into play)
  • location tracking

Questions or concerns

Stephen Henry, 872-255-9333, stephen@selassiefest.com, Ras Tafari Inc., 1401 E. 71st St., Chicago, IL 60619.

You can also contact the FTC directly about any website's COPPA practices at ftc.gov.

Sources